15th Day of Christmas
by kuragari nikkou
Summary: Part of my Days of Christmas project. Marlene thinks about what to give to each member of her family. She sees a few fragments of Cloud's past along the way. First Advent Children fic! Warnings: OOC. Cloti moment.


All respective characters © their respective owners

-OHTHEWEATHEROUTSIDEISPOLLUTE D

Tsuki: On the fifteenth day of Christmas my true love wrote for me…!

Warnings: OOC. CloudXTifa moment.

-ANDINSIDETHEBARISNICER

Marlene thought that flowers died when it snowed, but the small yellow flowers in Aerith's church still bloomed. She knelt down near them as snowflakes seemed to fall on everywhere but the flowers. She looked up at the ceiling that had been twice broken by Zack and Cloud, and thinks they really should fix it in the near future. She then looked back down at the flowers and wonders how they manage to do it.

'_Maybe Aerith's flowers are super flowers or something?'_ she thinks. She looks around the church again. It'd be nice if they could maybe decorate the church the way they decorated the bar. Christmas was going to come soon, and it wasn't like the church didn't have enough room for a tree and some holly.

Christmas was going to come soon.

"I need to buy gifts!" Marlene realized out loud. "Oh, but…" She looked down in thought. She wondered if it was really okay to give Aerith's flowers as a gift. Aerith did sell them when she was still alive, so it'd be okay if she only took one or two, right? She didn't have a whole lot of money, after all. "Sorry, Aerith." She said quietly as she pocketed the two prettiest flowers in the church.

She then left the church as she thought about what else she'd give to her family.

'_Flowers for Tifa…I can probably mix a drink for Cloud, but what do I get daddy? Bullets?'_ Marlene shook her head at the thought. _'He'd just ask what I was doing with bullets. Maybe I can get him a tranquilizer for when he gets angry. And for Denzel…and for Denzel…'_ Marlene stopped at that particular point.

"What am I supposed to get for Denzel?" she wondered out loud.

oOoOoOo

"Merry Christmas." Tifa neither shouted nor whispered when Cloud had walked into the bar. He wondered how long she had been waiting with that box in her hands since it appeared that the bar was empty at the time, and she looked like she hadn't budged from that spot. Cloud quietly accepted the box nonetheless. Before he could open it, however, Marlene had run in.

"Cloud, you're home!" she exclaimed as she threw her arms around him. Cloud set Tifa's gift down as he placed a hand on the small girl's head and awkwardly tried to return the hug.

"Hey, Marlene." He greeted. He looked behind himself when he thought that he felt something other than her hands and arms before he looked down at her again and asked, "What do you have in your hands?" Marlene let go of him to see that she was still carrying the flowers from the church.

"Oh, yeah." She turned to present them to Tifa. "Merry Christmas, Tifa!" The bartender accepted the flowers with a smile.

"Thank you, Marlene. They're beautiful." She said. Marlene beamed at that and turned to Cloud again.

"I'll mix a drink for you, Cloud! I can do it almost as good as Tifa now." She offered before she headed behind the counter to prepare it. Cloud was about to pick up Tifa's gift again when she grabbed his arm. He turned his attention back to her when she had held both flowers upside down in between them. They weren't mistletoe, but Cloud seemed to get the message as he blushed slightly.

"In front of Marlene?" he asked. Tifa tilted her head in Marlene's direction briefly, and the girl pretended to be completely absorbed in mixing Cloud's drink, her hands shaking the beverage a bit too enthusiastically.

"Don't tell me a big strong SOLDIER like yourself doesn't know how to kiss." She teased. He almost smiled at that. Then a loud whistle was heard.

"Nice going, blondie!" that man with the electric stick thing said as he walked into the bar with that tall bald guy.

"Shut up, Reno." Cloud and Tifa said at the same time, but didn't look away from each other. Reno appeared to dismiss it while his partner stayed silent as usual. Marlene was about to add one last ingredient when she saw another woman next to Tifa. Chocolate curls framed a dainty face, those locks were tied back with a pink ribbon, and that thin frame wore a similarly colored dress.

'_Aerith_?' Marlene rubbed her eyes in disbelief. When she looked again, she could still see Aerith laughing in a teasing manner at Cloud and Tifa while a tall man with black, spiky hair stood next to her with a similarly teasing grin. Marlene shook her head.

"Hey, what's wrong?" a voice asked. She turned around to see Denzel. He tilted his head in confusion.

"Nothing." She replied as she took out her gift for Denzel. "Here!" She said as he accepted the gift. "Merry Christmas!" Denzel looked down at the small bangle in his hands. It wasn't extravagant or anything, but it was…pink.

'_Since when did metal bangles come in pink?'_ he thought. Then he looked at her smiling expectant face.

"I thought that since you're always following Cloud when he fights off the monsters in the slums, you could at least have something to protect you instead of just that pipe." She whispered. Cloud could probably still hear her, but it was the thought that counted, right?

"Thanks, Marlene." He returned the smile.

oOoOoOo

In seven years, Denzel would become a fairly well-known and skilled swordsman. It was rumored that he always wore a pink bangle underneath his long black sleeves. But no one believed that, of course.

-LETITSNOWLETITSNOWLETITSNOW

Tsuki: Advent Children was a scary movie.

Holiday moral: A good gift can go a long way.

Extra scene I didn't know where to put in the story!

oOoOoOo

"Merry Christmas, daddy!" Marlene shouted happily as she presented him with the small box. The large man accepted the gift from her as she continued bouncing on her heels. He unwrapped it to find the tranquilizer Marlene thought about giving him and smiled a bit too widely. Marlene noticed it and frowned. "You don't like it?"

"No!" Barret denied. "'Course not. I love it, Marlene." He assured her as he pocketed the item.

"Yaaaay!" She cheered. "I'll go make hot chocolate now." She decided as she headed behind the counter of the bar.

'_I guess I can always stab Cid with it when he gets into a cussin' storm.'_ He thought as she heated water. _'I wonder why she thought to get me a tranquilizer, though…'_

oOoOoOo

Tsuki: We're approximately halfway through the Days of Christmas project with this fic! Yaaaay!


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